Church Work Nights and other Announcements

Church Work Night

     June 24th and 25th, 6:00 - 9:00pm

Church work nights are this Wednesday and Thursday. No matter what your skill level, this is a great way to help maintain our church and get to know your fellow brother and sisters in Christ.  A meal will be provided both evenings

Volunteers are needed to:                 Tasks to be done:

Take on a task to manage                     Painting classrooms

Work on one or both nights                   Landscaping, sign repair

Provide materials                                  Cleaning shed & parsonage

Provide a meal and/or beverages         Rebuild stairs and a stair railing

For any questions or to volunteer please contact Mike Klebs. MikeKlebs@gmail.com.

 Miss Mittelstadt Update

Melissa Mittelstadt should arrive in Anchorage on July 7th.   Come meet our new preschool director during Bible Study on July 12th and enjoy a potluck breakfast, Muffins with Miss Mittelstadt.  A sign up sheet is located in the Fellowship Hall.

Miss Mittelstadt’s installation service is in the planning stages.  It will most likely be in August to allow time for family and friends to attend.

Installation Services

Church Leaders and Sunday School Teachers will be installed during the services on June 28th and June 29th.

Bible Camp at Camp Luther

It’s time to make some memories!  The theme for camp is: The Lord’s Avengers. 

Camp opens up July 12th from 3-5pm for registration and ends on Friday July 17th at 6pm with a program around the campfire.  Area WELS kids entering the 3rd through 8th grades are invited to attend and may bring a friend. 

Sneak Peak Camp is July 15th.  This is a day camp for Kindergarten through 2nd grade.  It is a great way to get introduced to the camp experience. 

It is not too late to register on-line at CampLutherAK.com.  Older kids can sign up for camp counselors as well.

Soccer Camp

“He dribbles, he shoots, he scores! GOOOOOOOAL!!!”  Faith Lutheran is hosting our first ever Soccer Camp. This is a great chance for kids to get active and learn about our Lord at the same time.  Camp is open to all children in Preschool to 8th grade. Older kids and teens can help with supervising the activities.   We’ll be getting together at Abbott Loop Community Park on July 27-29^th from 9am-Noon. Registration information will be available online soon.  If you would be able to help out in any way, please let Pastor Chris know!

                             Fellowship Activites

Sports Night

Want to get out and enjoy this warm Alaska summer?  Come to Delany Park Strip to enjoy a night of sports and fellowship.  Every Tuesday night this summer Faith will host a sports night 6:00 - 8:00pm at the strip.   Faith will provide tennis balls, rackets, volleyballs and basketballs.  We will play whatever sport or sports everyone is up for.  Bring your friends and any extra equipment you would like to enjoy a great night of Christian fellowship.

Hiking

Faith Lutheran Hikers have been out and about exploring this great state.  Want to join in the fun?  Hikes are posted on Facebook, simply ask to join the group Faith Lutheran Hikers to keep up on the latest hike information.

Announcements from Sunday June 14th

Church Work Night

June 24th and 25th, 6:00 - 9:00pm

The time has come to start putting action to the plans for improvements to the church.  Work days will be scheduled throughout the summer.  A meal will be provided each work night. 

Faith’s work nights have a history of getting work done while providing a great fellowship opportunity to those who attend.  No matter what your skill level, this is a great way to help maintain our church and get to know your fellow brother and sisters in Christ. 

Volunteers are needed to:           Tasks to be done:

Take on a task to manage               Painting classroom

Work on one or both nights           Landscaping, fence & sign repair

Provide materials                            Cleaning shed & parsonage

Provide a meal and/or beverages    Rebuild stairs and a stair railing

A complete task list is located in the Fellowship Hall.  For any questions or to volunteer please contact Mike Klebs. MikeKlebs@gmail.com

Bible Camp at Camp Luther 

It’s time to make some memories!  The theme for this year’s camp is: God’s Avengers.  Camp opens up July 12th from 3-5pm for registration and ends on Friday July 17th at 6pm with a program around the campfire.  Area WELS kids entering the 3rd through 8th grades are invited to attend and may bring a friend. 

Sneak Peak Camp is July 15th.  This is a day camp for Kindergarten through 2nd grade.  It is a great way to get introduced to the camp experience. 

Register on-line at CampLutherAK.com.  Please register by June 20th.  Older kids can sign up for camp counselors as well.

Faith Soccer Camp

 “He dribbles, he shoots, he scores! GOOOOOOOAL!!!”  Faith Lutheran is hosting our first ever Soccer Camp. This is a great chance for kids to get active and learn about our Lord at the same time.  

Camp is open to all children in Preschool to 8th grade. Older kids and teens can help with supervising the activities.   We’ll be getting together at Abbott Loop Community Park on July 27-29^th from 9am-Noon. Registration information will be available online soon.  

If you would be  able to help out in any way, please let Pastor Chris know!

Women's Retreat

Taste and See that the Lord is Good!  Join the WELS Women of Alaska for a refreshing retreat at beautiful Land’s End resort in Homer on October 9th and 10th.  

Guest speaker, Valerie Johnson will help us celebrate the Martha in each of us as we take Mary’s example and listen at our Savior’s feet and discover the joy you didn't know you had to turn your complaints into thankfulness.   

For more information and registration visit AKWELSWomensRetreat.com or see the poster in the Fellowship Hall.

Faith Lutheran School’s 40th Anniversary

This fall marks forty years of Faith providing an excellent Christian based education to our children.  We will celebrate this occasion on August 9th.  Professor Lance Hartzell, Faith’s first principal and teacher will be here to join in the festivities.  If you would like to help with the planning and organizing of this event please contact Melanie Ferguson. Melanie.Ferguson@alaska.gov

Summer Worship Schedule

Join us for worship this summer.
Start your worship on Sunday with Bible Study and Fellowship at 9:15am. Pastor Ewings will lead a study of the sermon text for the day.
Worship service is at 10:30am.

Monday evening worship services begin this Monday, June 15th at 7:00pm.

As always you can view archived services by following the Livestream link on the right.

Update on Pastor Oldfield from Colleen

My apologies for the length of time since the last update.  This should get everyone up to date.  Colleen

Jim has entered what is called the maintenance phase of his treatment.  Beginning May 13 he takes a chemo medication orally for 5 days out of a 28 day cycle.  The medicine is the same one taken during the concurrent radiation/chemo phase only at a higher dosage.   This cycle is repeated for 6 months.  The goal is to kill remaining cancer cells.   MRI’s will be done every 2–4 months to monitor any changes.  We meet with Dr. Bernard on Thursday to go over the results of the first follow up MRI.

Visits with the speech-language pathologist have resumed after a 1½ month break.  The practionier he sees specializes in adult aphasia, which helps to recreate pathways in the brain for language and word recall.

The claim for long-term disability was approved by Sun Life Insurance and will take affect the end of June.  We are extremely grateful that this was approved, as they will pay 2/3 of his current salary.  I have been in contact with the officer who oversees the claim.  She is compassionate and very helpful.  We are also grateful for the financial support Faith has continued the last 4 months.

May 30
The visit with Dr. Bernard last week was mixed.  He went over the results of the MRI with us.  While all areas showed improvement, there is a suspicious very small area that could be one of three things, swelling, a blood vessel or return of the tumor.  The MRI was done before the first round of maintenance chemo so he have another MRI in July to compare.  By then Jim will be through 2 rounds of chemo.

Fatigue caught up with Jim as he tapered off the steroids.  He takes several short naps throughout the day and is in bed early.  He has an enhanced sense of smell and food will often not appeal or taste good to him.  (Even alcohol!)  We have also learned that the effects of the chemo meds last longer than the 5 days they are taken.  Nausea and heartburn continue although we are now proactive with the medications that address those symptoms.  I understand what it means to battle cancer.

As far as cognitive things, it is still challenging to read and getting the right word pulled out of the brain and spoken remains a challenge.  We had hoped that this would improve, but has not so far.  It is difficult to imagine how someone who could craft powerful sermons and teach God’s truth in engaging Bible studies who has now lost this gift can feel.  For those of you reading this email that never had the opportunity to hear Jim preach or teach, our Synod has lost the gifts of a very talented (seminarian level) pastor.

On the positive side, Jim goes to oncology rehab and exercises as his knee and back allow.  He also walks twice a day weather permitting.  He keeps things tidy at home while I’m working and takes care of misc errands.  After 38 years of evening meetings and calls he is home at night and on weekends.  Our dinnertime is relaxed without time constraints.  We’ve been to Cody’s ball games and will be able to take in Bradyn’s soccer games once they begin. We still play cribbage and take turns beating each other.   Last weekend we headed to Seward for a mini get away.  Unfortunately the weather was rainy, but we enjoyed taking a road trip.

And then there are the small blessings that we take for granted.  The beautiful weather we have enjoyed this spring.  Flowers blooming in the perennial garden.  The lawn mower started on the second pull after sitting for 9 months.  Receiving multiple graduation announcements.  Celebrating the confirmation vows of 4 young people this morning.  My very supportive coworkers who have given me the flexibility to continue working and still take care of things as they arise.

We have two trips planned.  Jim dearly wanted to attend the Delegate Conference in Tacoma, so we head there June 10-13. The big trip is planned for June 24 - July 6 when we go to Portland with a side trip to the OR coast with the whole family.  We have rented a beach house in Manzanita, which will accommodate all of us.  Lord willing we will travel to WI in September for our niece Amy’s wedding.

Our gracious Savior keeps us going.  My favorite hymn lately has been “With the Lord Begin Your Task.”  I ask you to continue to keep us in your prayers as we wait to see what the future holds.

Feel free to call either Jim or me.  We both enjoy hearing from people.  Love to all!
907-229-5605  Jim
907-903-5950 Colleen

Congregational Meeting and Call Updates with Announcements from May 17th

Congregational Meeting Update

Thank you for all those who attend the congregational meeting.  What a blessing to see the members continue to support the ministries of Faith.   For the call portion of the meeting, the congregation will extend a formal and permanent call to Pastor Ewings to serve as pastor of Faith Lutheran Evangelical Church.  He will minister to both congregations, and support all the ministries.   

Pastor Oldfield continues to be a called worker of Faith Lutheran Church.  Pastor O has been blessed to receive full disability benefits so he may focus his time and energy on his own health and family.  When Pastor Oldfield is ready, there will be a formal recognition of his valuable service to the ministry Faith.  This congregation has been and continues to be blessed by the wonderful leadership of Pastor Oldfield.

The church has been blessed with the opportunity in the budget to begin some much needed and overdue maintenance and upgrades to our facilities.  The first major item is the demolition of the parsonage this summer.   The sprinkler project continues to move along ahead of schedule and is now in formal plan development for the sprinklers being added to the rest of the building.

The congregation elected the following members to the BLM, Board of Elders and Officers of the Church: 

President - Channing Lillo

Secretary - Angus Bromaghin

Treasurer– Rochelle Hart

Board of Elders - Jim Auman, Tom Zarnstorff, and Andy Zanto

Education - Jeff Brooks

Property - Mike Klebs

Finance - Kyle Thompson

Outreach - Jeff Wockenfuss

Fellowship - Jed Else

 Preschool Director Call

Melissa Mittelstadt, a graduate of MLC, has accepted the call to serve as our new Preschool Director.    Miss Mittelstadt will be moving here this summer.  If you are interested in helping her establish her home here in Anchorage, please contact the church office at FaithLutheran@gci.net or  563-3499. 

PTF & Teen Group Parking Lot Sale It’s time again for the annual parking lot sale.  It will be held on Saturday May 30th , 10:00am - 4:00pm.  This year’s sale will benefit the Faith Lutheran School PTF and the church’s Teen Group.  Come by and support the school and youth group. This is the perfect time to clear our the clutter and donate your items for re-sale.   You may drop off your donations at back of the Fellowship Hall at anytime.  Please call ahead to be sure the church is open.  If you have any large donations or need help the teen group would be happy to assist you.  Please contact Fred Koenig SKoala.sk@gmail.com or Bryan Schneck FaithLutheranSchool@gci.net for assistance or the church office.

Teen Rock Climbing

The Teen Group will meet Saturday, May 23rd at 12:45pm at the church and  head out together to McHugh Creek.  There will be a short hike then the rock climbing begins.  No prior experience is needed, this is the perfect time for newbies to get introduced to climbing!  Don’t feel up to rock climbing?  Come enjoy a hike and great fellowship. 

RSVP to Mr. Zanto or on Sign Up Genius at: signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4caaa722aaf85-fai

Announcements from Sunday May 10th, Including Call Update

Please click on Faith Worship Service on Livestream on the right where the service is available for viewing.The church calendar can be viewed on the church website.

Annual Congregational Meeting 

Faith Lutheran Annual Congregational Meeting will be held next Sunday, May 17th at 4pm.  Informational packets are available.  We have some big decisions that will need to be made so please make every effort to attend.

During the meeting we will discuss Pastor Ewings’ call as well.  We will determine if the congregation is best served by extending a permanent call to Pastor Ewings to serve both congregations of Faith or to begin the process to call another pastor from the field.

We will also have an update of the Planning Meeting, as well as an overview of the construction projects we are planning this summer. We hope to see you all there. 

Potluck Following the Meeting

Bring a dish to share as we enjoy fellowship and a good meal after the congregational meeting next Sunday.  

Faith Lutheran School News 

End of School - The school year is quickly coming to an end with the last day of school on May 21st.  Five students will graduate and be confirmed on May 31st during the 10:30 Worship Service led by Pastor Brian Hackmann.

Enrollment - Faith Lutheran School is currently enrolling. Please visit the school’s website at FaithAlaska.com or speak with Principal Bryan Schneck at 563-3499.

Preschool Director Call

During the call meeting on Sunday, 5-10-15 it was voted on to call a preschool director from the field of graduates.  The call service for graduates is on May 16th.